South Burlington police say they found suspicious photos on the phone of a Rice Memorial High School teacher accused of taking pictures up a female student's skirt at school, according to new court papers in the case.

Music and theater teacher Brian Lynam, 31, of Burlington allowed police to search his phone after police received word of the allegations on March 20. School officials contacted police after another student had reported witnessing the alleged conduct.

Paperwork filed with a search warrant provides information about the early stages of the investigation. The reporting student said he or she saw Lynam use his phone to take photos up a female student's skirt while she walked up stairs at school, the affidavit states.

The reporting student told police that Lynam had his phone in his hand while climbing the stairs behind the 17-year-old female student victim. The reporting student said he or she saw that Lynam's camera application was open on his phone.

"The reporting student then observed Lynam flip the phone over and stretch his arm out, pointing the camera phone towards the buttocks of (the victim) who was walking up the stairs in front of him," an affidavit written by South Burlington Detective Sarah Superneau states. "The reporting student advised Lynam had sped up his pace to get close to (the victim) and after stretching his hand out with the phone, he surpassed (the victim) and walked past her towards the top of the stairs."

Superneau wrote that surveillance footage showed Lynam enter the stairwell behind the victim with his phone in his hand. He appears to be looking at the screen, and then puts his arm down and holds his phone at his side. The reporting student is then shown entering the stairwell behind Lynam, the affidavit states.

There is no available surveillance footage inside the stairwell where the incident was reported to have occurred, Superneau said. The video picks back up at the top of the stairwell, which shows Lynam reaching the second floor main hall first, with the female victim shortly behind.

"Shortly after, the reporting student was seen ascending the stairs to the second floor main hallway and was seen in the video looking toward Lynam," Superneau wrote.

Photos on the phone

Police searched Lynam's phone while on "airplane mode," meaning it had no access to the Internet or cellular network. They later filed a search warrant on March 21 seeking information from Synchronoss Technologies, a cloud service provider utilized by Verizon users. Court papers show the service reported back to police on March 22 that they could not locate an account in their system associated with Lynam's cell phone number or personal email address.

A South Burlington police detective extracted several photo files from the phone, according to an affidavit filed with the search warrant.

"In these photos the female was clothed and appeared to be unaware a photo was being taken of them," Det. Superneau wrote in the affidavit. "We located another suspicious photo which showed what appeared to be a partial view of ceiling tiles, a young female's face, and additional skin toward the bottom of the photo with what appeared to be loose clothing above that skin."

Superneau wrote that the photo contained enough detail "to be indicative of an attempted 'upskirt' photo." Detectives did not find date or time stamps on the photos without connecting to the cellular network or the Internet.

Police also found an application on the phone that wipes web searches and browsing history in addition to uses a virtual private network (VPN), the affidavit states.

Attempts to reach Lynam since Monday have been unsuccessful. Police said Lynam has retained a lawyer, but police did not know who was representing Lynam.

According to the search warrant affidavit, South Burlington Police Department first received notice of the allegations the morning of March 20. A student had told school administrators that he or she was climbing the stairs behind Lynam and the female victim on March 7 when the "upskirting" was observed.

Cpl. Kevin Grealis, who also acts as Rice's school resource officer, said the student did not report the allegations right away.

"It was later on the school became aware of it and we became involved on the 20th," Grealis wrote in an email Wednesday.

The search warrant states that Rice Principal Lisa Lorenz told police the reporting student is "known to be a credible student and does not have any classes with Lynam."

Lynam was placed on administrative leave on March 20. He has been cited to appear in court in April to answer a criminal charge. Police expect him to be charged with voyeurism.

Lynman remained on administrative leave Wednesday, said Christy Bahrenburg, Rice's director of advancement and communications.